Which Way China?

June 07, 1989

It may be too soon to describe what's occurring in China as a civil war, but events could be leading in that direction. Opposing armies are confronting each other in Beijing, and the world is watching.

President Bush has reacted responsibly to the Chinese government's brutal attempts to suppress the pro-democracy movement, suspending military sales and taking other steps to show the United States' extreme displeasure. Whether those measures will have any effect is uncertain, but it seems unlikely. A dam has broken in China, and the flood waters that are rolling across history aren't likely to be contained by the censure of governments.

The media hypes the news in addition to reporting it - that's one of the ways to sell newspapers or attract viewers. But even for a public numbed by a constant barrage of information from newspapers, television, radio and magazines, some events transcend the rest of the "news" and command our attention. That is the case with China.

Since the end of World War II, the conflict between communism and democracy has dominated the world. Then, along came Mikhail Gorbachev and perestroika, and voices in the West were saying, "The Cold War is over, and we won."

Maybe that's true, but someone apparently forgot to tell the men in China who ordered the army to murder their own people.

Those men represent the past - at least we hope they do. They may, by brute force, hang on to power in China, and for as long as they do they will be a horrible weight on that nation and the world.

What everyone had hoped was that the world had changed enough for those men to recognize the futility of trying to impose their views by force. The massive student demonstrations raised those hopes, and tanks crushed them.

The reaction has been shock. How could the Chinese leaders be so blind to what is happening in the world and in their own country? Did they really think they could gun down students one day and resume business as usual the next?

Actions have consequences. No one can be sure of what will follow from the events of the past few days in China, but there's an undeniable sense that this ancient nation is standing at a threshold. Will it step into the future, or fall backward into the past?